The invention relates to a rapid process for the application of alternating layers by means of chemical vapor deposition processes, CVD, in particular by means of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition PECVD, especially plasma impulse chemical vapor deposition, PICVD, and to coatings which can be applied using this process.
To enable the permeability of packaging for gases and liquids to be reduced and to protect the packaging material from chemical attack or UV radiation, it is advantageous for this packaging to be provided with a barrier coating. In this context, by way of example, the deposition of thin SiOx coatings or coating systems on polymer substrates is of interest in particular for mass-produced plastics in order to reduce their permeability in particular to oxygen and water vapor and at the same time in particular to maintain the transparency of the material. Moreover, the contents of materials which have been coated in this way can generally be safely heated by means of microwave devices. A further advantage of these coatings lies in the large number of possible options for depositing them on polymer surfaces.
However, to improve the quality of coatings of this type, it is necessary to know the relationship between the barrier action, the morphological properties and the molecular transport through the layer, and in particular to control the influence of the deposition conditions on the coating parameters which result.